The Ugandan Asians never forget their debt to Britain

For most Londoners, August is met with enthusiasm. The Tube is quieter, the news quietens down as politicians take a break and the weather gives a pleasant backdrop to festivals and barbecues. Yet for many other Londoners August is a reminder that 47 years ago, they lost their homes, possessions, dignity and even assumed nationality.
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The Ugandan Asians never forget their debt to BritainFor most Londoners, August is met with enthusiasm. The Tube is quieter, the news quietens down as politicians take a break and the weather gives a pleasant backdrop to festivals and barbecues. Yet for many other Londoners August is a reminder that 47 years ago, they lost their homes, possessions, dignity and even assumed nationality.

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Stephen Barclay and Priti Patel insist focus is on achieving agreement before 31 October Two of Boris Johnson’s senior cabinet ministers have talked up the possibility of securing a Brexit deal through some divergence on the rules in Northern Ireland, as the government’s rhetoric showed fresh signs of shifting ahead of crucial talks next week.With Johnson due to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, on Monday, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and the home secretary, Priti Patel, accepted the Irish border was likely to be a key to any potential agreement. Continue reading...

Brexit: UK ministers talk up Irish border compromise as key to deal
Stephen Barclay and Priti Patel insist focus is on achieving agreement before 31 October Two of Boris Johnson’s senior cabinet ministers have talked up the possibility of securing a Brexit deal through some divergence on the rules in Northern Ireland, as the government’s rhetoric showed fresh signs of shifting ahead of crucial talks next week.With Johnson due to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, on Monday, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and the home secretary, Priti Patel, accepted the Irish border was likely to be a key to any potential agreement. Continue reading...

Observer Food Monthly joins the influential London restaurant’s founders, Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver, in France on their way to the ‘best bar in the world’• Recipes from the new St John bookOne Friday afternoon early this summer I drove down from Toulouse to a village called Homps, east of Carcassonne, parked in a narrow, cobbled lane in the hot sun and wandered across a shaded square into the cool kitchen of a house beside the Canal du Midi. That afternoon, the house had become an outpost of London’s most distinctive and influential restaurant, St John. The grainy grey light of Smithfield meat market had been swapped for a big Mediterranean sky, but the intense “nose to tail” spirit of the London restaurant prevailed.In the kitchen, Fergus Henderson, St John’s indomitable philosopher-in-chief, was working alongside his Canadian head chef, Steve Darou and a posse of staff and friends, using kitchen scissors to nip the heads and snip the backbones from 120 quail. The quail – set aside to marinate on a layered bed of parsley stalks, sliced garlic and olive oil – would form the centrepiece of the St John’s annual fête du vin the next day. Continue reading...

‘A restaurant should be an old friend’: spreading the gospel of St John
Observer Food Monthly joins the influential London restaurant’s founders, Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver, in France on their way to the ‘best bar in the world’• Recipes from the new St John bookOne Friday afternoon early this summer I drove down from Toulouse to a village called Homps, east of Carcassonne, parked in a narrow, cobbled lane in the hot sun and wandered across a shaded square into the cool kitchen of a house beside the Canal du Midi. That afternoon, the house had become an outpost of London’s most distinctive and influential restaurant, St John. The grainy grey light of Smithfield meat market had been swapped for a big Mediterranean sky, but the intense “nose to tail” spirit of the London restaurant prevailed.In the kitchen, Fergus Henderson, St John’s indomitable philosopher-in-chief, was working alongside his Canadian head chef, Steve Darou and a posse of staff and friends, using kitchen scissors to nip the heads and snip the backbones from 120 quail. The quail – set aside to marinate on a layered bed of parsley stalks, sliced garlic and olive oil – would form the centrepiece of the St John’s annual fête du vin the next day. Continue reading...

With its kingfishers and wild pigs, this Gloucestershire forest is perfect for a family nature safariIt’s a kingfisher!” Ed’s body swung round and leaned forward, his arm following in a wavelike motion the bird soaring above the water at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean. We leaned with him, scanning the sky. “There it is, there it is.” Ed Drewitt, our guide, had spotted its landing perch in a pine around 400 metres away. “Wow, I’d love to be able to do that,” my daughter whispered. Ed got his binoculars out so we could glimpse the orange belly of the bird, the first kingfisher he’d seen this year, he told us excitedly. Ed, a passionate zoologist, was taking us on an “animal safari”, offered to guests staying at the Tudor Farmhouse in the heart of the Forest of Dean. The “safari” is perfect for animal lovers, including my daughter Sophie, 20, studying animal management, and my 16-year-old son, Toby.We’d arrived the afternoon before and, thanks to the hotel’s map of wild swimming spots, headed straight out to the River Usk, half an hour away, sinking into the water from a tiny island beach in the centre of a bend in the river. After a slow journey on clogged motorways, it was a refreshing and magical way to start our forest adventure. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed cocktails in the garden, before stepping across a wooden bridge over a tiny stream that led inside to dinner. I was impressed by the variety on the menu, particularly for someone like me who is gluten and dairy-free, and by the fact that much of it was locally sourced – and tucked into delicately flavoured beetroot and cured salmon, followed by pork belly with roast onion. Continue reading...

We’re going on a boar hunt: into the Forest of Dean
With its kingfishers and wild pigs, this Gloucestershire forest is perfect for a family nature safariIt’s a kingfisher!” Ed’s body swung round and leaned forward, his arm following in a wavelike motion the bird soaring above the water at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean. We leaned with him, scanning the sky. “There it is, there it is.” Ed Drewitt, our guide, had spotted its landing perch in a pine around 400 metres away. “Wow, I’d love to be able to do that,” my daughter whispered. Ed got his binoculars out so we could glimpse the orange belly of the bird, the first kingfisher he’d seen this year, he told us excitedly. Ed, a passionate zoologist, was taking us on an “animal safari”, offered to guests staying at the Tudor Farmhouse in the heart of the Forest of Dean. The “safari” is perfect for animal lovers, including my daughter Sophie, 20, studying animal management, and my 16-year-old son, Toby.We’d arrived the afternoon before and, thanks to the hotel’s map of wild swimming spots, headed straight out to the River Usk, half an hour away, sinking into the water from a tiny island beach in the centre of a bend in the river. After a slow journey on clogged motorways, it was a refreshing and magical way to start our forest adventure. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed cocktails in the garden, before stepping across a wooden bridge over a tiny stream that led inside to dinner. I was impressed by the variety on the menu, particularly for someone like me who is gluten and dairy-free, and by the fact that much of it was locally sourced – and tucked into delicately flavoured beetroot and cured salmon, followed by pork belly with roast onion. Continue reading...

Why Prince Harry and Diana always went to McDonald's - and it wasn't because of the food
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Cookham 'murder': Man arrested after unexplained death of woman, 44
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The family feud at Downton Abbey: Earl's second wife 'forces his two children to leave estate'
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An IPCC report says two-thirds of glaciers on the largest ice sheet after the Arctic and Antarctic are set to disappear in 80 yearsMany moons ago in Tibet, the Second Buddha transformed a fierce nyen (a malevolent mountain demon) into a neri (the holiest protective warrior god) called Khawa Karpo, who took up residence in the sacred mountain bearing his name. Khawa Karpo is the tallest of the Meili mountain range, piercing the sky at 6,740 metres (22,112ft) above sea level. Local Tibetan communities believe that conquering Khawa Karpo is an act of sacrilege and would cause the deity to abandon his mountain home. Nevertheless, there have been several failed attempts by outsiders – the best known by an international team of 17, all of whom died in an avalanche during their ascent on 3 January 1991. After much local petitioning, in 2001 Beijing passed a law banning mountaineering there.However, Khawa Karpo continues to be affronted more insidiously. Over the past two decades, the Mingyong glacier at the foot of the mountain has dramatically receded. Villagers blame disrespectful human behaviour, including an inadequacy of prayer, greater material greed and an increase in pollution from tourism. People have started to avoid eating garlic and onions, burning meat, breaking vows or fighting for fear of unleashing the wrath of the deity. Mingyong is one of the world’s fastest shrinking glaciers, but locals cannot believe it will die because their own existence is intertwined with it. Yet its disappearance is almost inevitable. Continue reading...

The world has a third pole – and it's melting quickly
An IPCC report says two-thirds of glaciers on the largest ice sheet after the Arctic and Antarctic are set to disappear in 80 yearsMany moons ago in Tibet, the Second Buddha transformed a fierce nyen (a malevolent mountain demon) into a neri (the holiest protective warrior god) called Khawa Karpo, who took up residence in the sacred mountain bearing his name. Khawa Karpo is the tallest of the Meili mountain range, piercing the sky at 6,740 metres (22,112ft) above sea level. Local Tibetan communities believe that conquering Khawa Karpo is an act of sacrilege and would cause the deity to abandon his mountain home. Nevertheless, there have been several failed attempts by outsiders – the best known by an international team of 17, all of whom died in an avalanche during their ascent on 3 January 1991. After much local petitioning, in 2001 Beijing passed a law banning mountaineering there.However, Khawa Karpo continues to be affronted more insidiously. Over the past two decades, the Mingyong glacier at the foot of the mountain has dramatically receded. Villagers blame disrespectful human behaviour, including an inadequacy of prayer, greater material greed and an increase in pollution from tourism. People have started to avoid eating garlic and onions, burning meat, breaking vows or fighting for fear of unleashing the wrath of the deity. Mingyong is one of the world’s fastest shrinking glaciers, but locals cannot believe it will die because their own existence is intertwined with it. Yet its disappearance is almost inevitable. Continue reading...

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Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas cheered by Wales Ironman crowds in Tenby day after HIV news
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BBC Proms outrage as show hijacked by Remainers – 'they must hate their country'
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explains why Man Utd keep winning penalties this season
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